imagine the laughter, conversation, and, in some cases, tears. Now imagine that all your guests are nurses like you are. And that you all have similar experiences in common. Do you feel a bond coming on? A rope irresistibly looping you together? One that you’re hesitant to ever sever again?

That’s what it was like for me at the Nursing Alumni Luncheon on October 2 at Trinity Christian College during Homecoming Weekend. Old friends I never thought I’d see again. And a very good part was that I got to apologize IN PERSON to the great “kids” from our first Class of 1985. Yes, the very ones that I apologize to on page 130 in Caring Lessons. And now they are mature, middle-aged, professional women who are older than I was when I taught them.

One from this first class said she could not believe it when she heard a much later student of mine say I was a fun teacher. She said, “You were NOT fun with us.”  I readily agreed: “You’re right. I was STRESSED.” And we had a good laugh.

Catharsis. Sharing. Remembering. Hugging. Forgiving. Loving. Thanking God for having brought us all together. And for His guidance in our practice of nursing as we’ve roamed hospital hallways and community health roadways, humming the words (I hope!) of  the song we used to sing in my Nursing 404-Mental Health Nursing course a few weeks before graduation:

Lead me, guide me, along the way, for if you lead me, I cannot stray.

Lord, let me walk each day with you, lead me my whole life through.

(The gray Psalter Hymnal, p. 544)